Portuguese Winter: Part I

Chris and I traveled to Portugal from Dec. 13-21 to beat the Christmas crowds, and it worked!

Excited to be hitting the road!

Portugal was seemingly made for me. The food, books, and history were exactly what I want in a vacation. I joked that we stayed in 'two castles and a convent' but it really was two former palaces and a convent in the old town of Lisbon.

To start the trip, we took a high speed train to Porto and checked into Torel 1884. The grandeur of this hotel took my breath away; it was intimate but luxurious, and we got upgraded to the jacuzzi suite. This trip was off to a great start.

Chris setting up for a job interview from our hotel room

The hotel lobby stairs with Christmas decorations

Our first day we wandered around the city, visiting Livrario Lello: The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World, and Tasquinha Zé Povinho for a hearty and typical Portuguese lunch. Our hotel got us a reservation at Taberno dos Mercadores, which was probably my favorite meal of the trip. We ended the night at a hip and dark cocktail bar.

Views overlooking Porto towards Casa de Musica

Pretty square in Porto

Stocked up on some reads in this historic bookstore

Stumbled on many grand old churches

AMAZING seafood dinner with local white wine

Slurping shrimp skulls. No shame.

Day 2 in Porto was a visit to the Douro Valley for a wine tour. This day was all about the sites, and I built an appreciation for port wine (20 year tawny is my favorite). This was also my first peek into small towns in Portugal and I was SMITTEN. Our time in Porto was wrapped up by dinner at Adega São Nicolau. We mostly stayed in Ribeira and the surrounding neighborhoods, but there was obviously so much more to explore in Porto.

Courtyard at one of the vineyards

The vineyards we visited were all historic

View over the vines in the distance

We fancy

Overlooking Pinhão

Traditional blue tile art

I cuddled this dog for the entire boat tour

View from the last vineyard

The next morning we picked up our rental car and drove to the small town of Lousã, stopping in Coimbra on the way. Coimbra totally stole my heart more than any other town on this trip. We went back later in the trip, but I'll cover that in my second Portugal post.

Town of Coimbra on this hill

The entrance to the Old Town of Coimbra

After a quick stopover in Coimbra for lunch and a wander around the historic district, we were on our way to the Serra de Lousã.